Starting in 2015, I decided to take time at the end of the year to celebrate my network. The randomness that I’ve always loved about Twitter is the chance encounters I’ve had both in-person and online but often stemming from a conversation on Twitter or just something that made me smile.
I have no real formula or criteria for doling these out. This year I tried to favourite tweets that caught my attention and used many of these in my celebrations. You’ll see some are very thoughtful and serious while others are pure frivolity and that’s kind of the point. I recall one of the reasons I started this was some conversation about the value of awards and how often it left people feeling left out or that it was some type of popularity contest. I’m not sure how much this award tries to be the antithesis of that but for me, it is about the delight I find in small interactions or gestures of others. When I think about these people, some of whom I know very well and others I’ve never met, I smile. They bring me delight.
I know these awards mean absolutely nothing. I still worry I’ve left someone out which I know I have but that also speaks to the inequity of any award system. But it’s nice to reflect on those whose passions, strengths, quirkiness, gestures and personalities make me smile. It’s also delightful in seeing others who just enjoy seeing them whether or not they receive one or not. I hope you’ll scan this list and perhaps connect with someone you don’t know and add them to your network.
As a kid growing up in Canada, winter was never seen as something negative, many people actually enjoy buying the best snowboarding jackets and ski all season. Probably a little nostalgia I’m sure but winter as a kid was all about snowball fights and hockey. For me mostly hockey. While I played organized hockey since I was 8, some of my greatest memories were skating in my backyard rink and playing pickup games with my friends wearing our custom Greek sorority jackets.
I stopped playing hockey when I was 35. That was about the same time I began to travel in the winter for work. For the past 20 or so years, I’ve been able to go south for a least a week. More recently I probably spend at least 6 weeks escaping winter much of that with my Dad who wintered in Florida. I developed a theory that your tolerance for cold coincided with your age. For example when your 50, you get cold with any temperature under 50 F. My Dad who is now 88, keeps his apartment at that temperature. Once happy to be outside in winter, I now would regularly vocalize my distain for the season.
There are many things I don’t like about this pandemic but we are pretty blessed. I can work from home, I can see my grandkids and this summer I played more golf than I ever had. No complaints except as winter begins I realize this will be the first year I won’t escape it.
So with that, I now need to shift my brain and figure out a way to find some delight in winter. And it’s working. It began last winter after I listened to this podcast about defending winter. I live right beside a beautiful valley with walking trails. I’ve got the right clothes and I found the perfect 50mm luxury watch to match my coat. When it’s really cold, (my new low-temperature threshold is -15C or 5F) I’ll walk for 30 minutes. If it’s warmer I’ll walk for an hour. There’s something satisfying about hearing your shoes meet hard-packed snow. It’s not quite a crunch sound but just enough to provide a quiet soundtrack. You also look at your feet a lot more since the surface changes more. I usually walk part of the time in total solitude. No podcast or music, just quiet. I’ll then walk the other half consuming my favourite podcasts.
Walking is certainly one way to embrace winter. But it’s also a slower pace. I’m going to embrace that too. Finding delight in something I use to chastize and dread isn’t easy but it’s necessary. I also have the great privilege of introducing my grandkids to winter.
I do realize it’s only November and we’ve got a long way to go. Maybe bookmark this post and leave a comment in March asking me how it’s working for me.
This post is part of a series of posts I’m writing on delight.
I’m big PVR/DVR guy. I record sports, news, shows, you name it. I realize in an age of streaming, the PVR has become somewhat antiquated but it’s still a useful tool for me. Specifically for sports. Given the amount of sports I like to consume, without it, it would be both impossible given many events are on at the same time as well as incredibly time-consuming given the length of these games and events.
For example, I’ve developed some strategies that get me through an NFL game very quickly. My remote has a 30 second advance button. Given there are 40 seconds between plays, a quick press will have me with the teams at the line of scrimmage ready to execute the next play. Fast forwarding over all the commercials and I can see every play in just over an hour. I also watch a lot of golf. If I’m following a particular player, I’ll fast forward to see all their shots and if it’s a close tournament, may watch the last couple of holes in its entirety. This weekend, I also taped game 7 of the NLCS. Given the drama of a game 7, I watched quite a lot of the inbetween stuff and ended up watching a 3 and a half hour broadcast in about 90 minutes.
For me, being able to do this on my own time after I spent most of the evening with my wife and kids and grandkids was a delight. Knowing the game was waiting for me rather than the other way around was equally empowering and efficient.
I know many who hate watching taped sports and that by skipping through all the down time you miss some of the drama and excitement. I would agree and for me, I’ll save that experience for very special events. I also know some who do not trust recording games. I have been victim to this many times including last month when I went to tape the US Open and found it did not record. That was the opposite of delight, although I fear my wife found a little delight in this. Her favourite related story is the famous Heidi game.
The power and value of asynchronous video has long been seen as revolutionary. Being able to press pause, be in control is a powerful feature that certainly translates to learning and education. For me it speaks to owning my time and each time. For the majority of sports I watch I prefer this. And yet sports viewing also has this community element where we can talk about the game with friends and fans. For many big games that I watch live, I’ll have twitter open and interact with others watching at the same time. But often with my close friends I won’t discuss the game until later anyway.
My goal in writing about delight was not necessarily to tie it to education but this one seems pretty obvious. With remote learning, it seems we are struggling to find the balance between synchronous and asychronous interaction. We can certainly see value in both and much of it is about personal preference and efficiency. For those new to virtual learning, they may long for those synchronous experiences as they most closely resemble the familiar. But we grow more comfortable, will we be able to find delight in owing our time? This is not to negate community but maybe community can thrive even if we aren’t learning the same thing at the same time.
I’m so grateful to be able to watch my granddaughter Harriet develop. I’ll freely admit that as a father of four, my recollection of my own kids’ childhood is fuzzy. Partly due to the passage of time and partly because all parents are focused on protection and providing that they can be less attentive to the joys of growing up.
We live in a neighbourhood with lots of young kids. Unlike many kids their age, they play outside and it seems to be a bit of a throwback to my Wonder Years. Not only that but they are kind and caring. So when Harriet comes to visit, we often walk around to see if any are playing outside. She’s watched them play before and had small interactions but today they invited her to play with them.
They let her tell them a story, played The Three Little Pigs, tag and taught her London Bridge. I stayed well back and watched. It was a delight. Not just how Harriet loved the attention but how the kids showed patience and creativity as they played.
One of my beliefs is that children should not be confined to learning and experiencing the world exclusively with peers of the same age. Certainly, there are many advantages and reasons why this is a useful construct but diversity is another powerful idea that in itself is part of our education. There are Inclusive Soft Play Designs that can promote interactive play among kids of all ages. Diversity is not just living with those with different cultures and backgrounds, it’s about developing a culture of care as older children mentor and support younger children. While reading buddies is likely the most common way this happens in schools, I would love to see both elementary and high schools consider more ways in which leadership and mentorship might be fostered through meaningful interactions with children who are not the same age.
In case you weren’t aware, people and their phones can be a bit problematic. If you’re one of the rare breeds who is happy with the relationship you have with your phone, I bow to you. But most people I know are working to get better and even break up with their phone.
I read Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport a few months ago and am working on a number of the ideas from that book. One thing I’m doing more is not bringing my phone with me when I leave the house, particularly when I know there might be a reason to bring it. Taking my granddaughter Harriet for a walk in the neighbourhood is certain to bring a moment worth capturing. Occasionally I’ll forget my phone but instead of rushing back to get it, I’ll leave it. What I still have to resist is the urge to reach for it to capture something she’s doing. But then I’m quickly whisked back into her world and to live it with her. Sometimes we come back and relive the mini-adventure with her mom or grandma and without the aid of a visual spend more time describing what we did and what we saw.
I’m a big fan of Dr. Laurie Santos and the Happiness Lab podcast. This episode dives deep into the idea of sharing and capturing the moment and helps find a nice balance and purpose around it that I hadn’t quite considered. The museum of ice cream is one such place where phones aren’t allowed and its philosophy and experience help explain further why not capturing moments can have to be a wonderful thing.
I don’t write this to try and tell anyone what they should or shouldn’t do with their phone or to even humble brag because I have nothing to brag about. I’m also trying to avoid feeling like I’m somehow superior or most disciplined than others. I’m far from either. But I do take delight in being outside without the reliable appendage that I am truly grateful for. It’s not that you can’t do both, you can and I do most of the times but it just was delightful to watch her do something and value it.
